It’s not easy to be an unappreciated star. Natalie Wood was discovered in a drugstore/soda fountain just like Mowell’s Murdo Drugs. The little Murdo Girl just needs to find her stage. In a way, she reminds me of Lucille Ball in,” I Love Lucy.” The desire is there, but the talent?…Not so much.
The little Murdo Girl
Dad said he watched Lawrence Welk for years, but he wouldn’t recognize anyone on the show if he met them walking down the street. He said he might recognize someone on the Ed Sullivan Show, but barely. I know why he tells everybody that.
I like to perform… On Saturday nights, I used to dress up in my red gown or some other outfit, and dance in front of the television.
I sang with the Lennon Sisters. (Everyone likes Janet the best, but I like Peggy.) I sang songs with Guy and Ralna, and danced with Bobby Burgess and Barbara Boylan. I always saved my red gown, made by Kitty Reynolds, to perform with the Champagne Lady. She wears beautiful dresses. Most of her dresses have tulle skirts, sprinkled with sparkles.
I don’t perform in front of the TV anymore. Dad switched to watching Gunsmoke. It’s a little hard to dance to Gunsmoke. No one even dances in Miss Kitty’s saloon. It doesn’t matter anyway, because I’m getting too old to do that. I still like to perform though.
I play the saxophone, but I begged Mom to let me take piano lessons. All of my friends play the piano, and their Moms say they’re more apt to use piano skills in later years. I begged so much, Mom finally said, okay. We were driving over to Elsa Peck’s house for my lesson, when I figured out I was only going to get ONE lesson.
When I complained, Mom told me to stop simpering. (Simpering is a new favorite word of Mom’s, although, I think it really is a word.) I told Mom, “Just never mind.” She mumbled something about, what was I thinking anyway, we don’t even have a piano.
I guess I didn’t think it through. Before they even began, my piano playing days were over.
I love Murdo, but it’s not exactly the place to live if you want to be a performer. I like to pretend I’m an Olympic gymnast. Suzanne and Cynthia Bork, and I have fun judging each other’s routines, but to become a good gymnast, you have to take lessons. I’d probably have to go to Pierre or Rapid City.
The only thing I can think of to be when I grow up, is a stewardess, but as you know, I’m afraid to fly. I’ll go ahead and tell you something right now. I can’t really sing very well either. I think that’s why Dad quit watching Lawrence Welk. It’s a good thing I have a few years to figure it all out.
Billy graduated from Murdo High School and he’s going to college in California. He’s doing just fine. I think he wants to go into the parking lot business. There aren’t any big parking lots in Murdo, so I don’t think he plans to move back. My brother has deep roots here though, and I know he’ll always stay in touch with all those guys he went to school with. He might even come back and go fishing with them once in awhile.
Maybe I can dance on one of Billy’s parking lots. No…he would never let me. Whenever I would dance in front of the TV, he left the scene. I saw him dance once. He danced clear across the Auditorium and the girl he was dancing with just stood there and wondered where he went.
Well as Dad says. I guess I better go do something. Even if it’s wrong.
Those 70ish Girls 